Valleyfair

So today was the annual company picnic at Valleyfair. They rent out the whole place for employees and family which is very nice. The crowds are light and the lines are short. You can do roller coaster after roller coaster without much delay.
We gave the new coaster 'Renegade' a try. It's wikipedia page says that the ride is two minutes long, but it feels more like 45 seconds. Very fast with a s-shaped curve on the first drop. Very nice.
The highlight of the picnic is a prize drawing with prizes ranging from money to hotel rooms to cruises and all expenses paid vacations. In the past they've done this at Valleyfair and had the prize winners come up to the stage. This year they're doing the drawing elsewhere and notifying winners later in the week. I preferred the first way.
One complaint? The park has started doing a Halloween themed thing on weekends throughout October. This means that they close some of the rides to get the spaces ready. One of the casualties is my favorite, the bumper cars. Seriously, how can they close that one down. (Someday, remind me to tell the story of how I changed bumper cars in Scotland). Still, it was very nice.